Rand Paul Giving $600,000 In Unused Funds Back To Treasury

2/21/2013 12:23 PM ET

Kentucky senator Rand Paul (R) has announced that he will turn over $600,000 of unused funds from his official operating budget back to the federal treasury this year. The Tea Party darling broke the news at a press conference in Louisville earlier this week.

CNN reports he symbolically presented the citizens with an over-sized check.

"We watch every purchase," Paul said at the event. "We watch what computers we buy, what paper we buy, the ink cartridges. We treat the money like it's our money, or your money, and we look at every expenditure."

The move is becoming an annual event for Paul, who also returned $500,000 from his operating budget last year, according to a press release.

"I ran to stop the reckless spending, and I pledged to the people of Kentucky that I would work to keep their hard-earned money out of the hands of Washington bureaucrats whose irresponsible spending has threatened our country's economic health," Paul adds in the release.